NC judge drops price to cover school plan, omits spend order

A North Carolina judge has cut the amount of money needed to comply with a plan to address educational inequities by more than half. But he also declined to leave in place the crux of another judge’s order that directed cash from government coffers be sent to state agencies to cover a fiscal gap. Special Superior Court Judge Mike Robinson ruled in long-running public education spending litigation on Tuesday. Robinson omitted from the order another judge's decision that had directed money be moved without legislative approval. An appeals court has blocked such action. The state Supreme Court will next take up the so-called “Leandro” litigation.